Kurban Said
Encyclopedia
Kurban Said.
Kurban Said is the pseudonym for the author of Ali and Nino, a novel originally published in 1937 in the German language by the Austrian publisher, E.P. Tal. The novel currently has been published in more than 30 languages.
—Arabic and Hebrew. The term connotes “sacrifice” —a traditional religious concept common to Middle Eastern cultures. “Said” means “joyful” or “fortunate.”
However, in Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani, adjectives precede the nouns they modify, so the names would need to be reversed as “Said Kurban” to accurately convey the meaning “joyful sacrifice,” or “fortunate sacrifice.” This idea contradicts the storyline, which is anything but happy. A sad underlying melancholic theme pervades the novel from beginning to end.
Some people including Orkhan Vazirov (1928–2010), the son of Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
(core author of "Ali and Nino"), are convinced that the original pseudonym is more likely to have been “Kurban Seyid” or possibly "Seyid Kurban." “Seyid” refers to someone who is recognized as a descendent from the Prophet Mohammed—in other words, a person of sacred lineage. Thus, "Seyid Kurban" would more accurately convey the meaning of someone of sacred descent who had been sacrificed, which is exactly the theme of the novel "Ali and Nino." Ali Khan the protagonist, sacrifices himself for the dream for himself and his country to be free. He dies while resisting the Bolshevik
takeover of his country (1920). In the Azerbaijani language, both "Gurban" and "Seyid" can be used as either first or last names.
(ADR) government which was in opposition to the Bolsheviks. Chamanzaminli realized that historical circumstances made him a likely victim of politics, as most of ADR government officials had been killed when the Bolsheviks came to power.
During his literary career, Yusif Vazirov used at least 15 different pseudonyms beginning in 1904 when he was still a high school student. His choice of pseudonyms included names such as "Badbakht" (Unlucky One), "Hagg Tarafdari" (Protector of Justice), "Musavi" (Equality), "Sarsam" (Crazy One), "Stradayushiy" (One who suffers), and "Zritel" (Observer).
If the name originally had been "Seyid Kurban," it may be that Essad Bey (Lev Nussimbaum) who embellished the storyline and added folkloric elements (which often did not reflect reality) reversed the sequence as he was known to have often changed word sequences in efforts to disguise and hide his plagiarism.
who often went by the alias Ahmed Giamil Vacca-Mazzara, also laid claim to the pseudonym Kurban Said. During the early 1970s, he appeared on the doorstep of Baron Omar Rolf Ehrenfels
, husband of Elfriede Ehrenfels, who had registered "Ali and Nino" with German authorities. Vacca introduced himself: “Kurban Said, C’est moi!” (“Kurban Said, It’s me!”). The Ehrenfels were astonished.
Vacca also wrote British publisher Hutchinson claiming that he, as Kurban Said, had collaborated on several books with Essad Bey and they had had plans to publish them together - "Kurban Said" and "Essad Bey". Vacca named two titles: “Jihad
” (Sacred Way) and “Kaloglan: From Samarkand
to Tangiers.”
Note the relationship between Vacca and Essad Bey. Vacca was Essad Bey’s drug dealer and he was expelled from Egypt
in 1938 on charges of drug dealing and arms smuggling. Vacca also is the person who arranged and financed the Muslim-style gravestone capped with a stone-carved turban for Essad Bey, who is buried in the sea coast town of Positano, Italy.
In 1944, it was Vacca who arranged for the translation of "Ali and Nino" into Italian for the first time. However, although he had already identified the title as "Ali and Nino" in the obituary tribute that he had written for Essad Bey in 1942; in the 1944 edition of the novel, Vacca changed the title to "Ali Khan" and identified the author as "M. Essad Bey," instead of "Kurban Said." In the obituary as well as in the introduction of the novel, Vacca tried to make the case that he was related to Essad Bey, four generations back - the implication being that Vacca himself was "sole survivor" and, thus, in line to inherit Essad Bey's wealth.
The motivation became evident in correspondence from Vacca to Omar Rolf Ehrenfels asking his advice in regard to approaching Hutchinson Publishers (London) who he said had not paid Essad Bey for the biography of Reza Shah. Vacca sought to claim the money and told Ehrenfels that he had his papers all in order as proof of the kinship relationship.
Vacca described the scenario as follows: 1936. A lecture hall in the National Library of Istanbul
(Old City). He and Essad Bey had set aside four days to work together on "Ali and Nino." Essad Bey was conversing with someone when Vacca arrived. “I addressed them both with the greeting, “Kurban Said,” which Vacca explained, means “Happy Kurban Holiday.”
Vacca continued: It turned out that it was a foreigner—a tourist—who had been talking with Essad Bey. He misunderstood the custom and thought I was introducing myself as “Kurban Said.” And so the foreigner had smiled and replied: “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kurban Said.” “Ever since then, Essad Bey jokingly called me ‘Kurban Said,’ and when he was looking for a pseudonym for the novel, he asked me if he could use it and I agreed.”
(1) There is no such greeting as “Kurban Said” or "Gurban Said" – in any of the countries which celebrate this holiday - not in Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey or other Turkic-speaking countries in Central Asia
, or Arabic-speaking countries.
(2) Both Vacca and Essad Bey claimed they had converted to Islam
but it is obvious that their knowledge of Islam was extremely superficial, which calls into question the motivation for their "conversions" which many opponents judged to be merely opportunistic.
(3) Bayram is the biggest holiday of the year in Turkey, and all libraries would have been closed. These days, for example, the Bayram holiday is celebrated for more than a week.
(4) The pseudonym – Kurban Said – carries with it too much subtlety and sensitivity in relationship to the novel “Ali and Nino
” to have originated from a casual mistake or joke, especially if understood in the context of Ali Khan’s personal quest for greater individual freedom in the pursuit of Azerbaijan’s independence.
(5) Other than Vacca’s account, there is no proof that Essad Bey had even gone to Istanbul to work on the novel. Nor is there any other witness claiming that Vacca had been involved at all with editing “Ali and Nino.” However, it may very well be that the original manuscript was kept in the National Library in Istanbul. Vacca wrote: "The original plan of the novel was in the State Library of Turkey in 1936 and I can say that the same plan is still in Turkey."
Furthermore, Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli wrote that he had left written materials related to Azerbaijan there in the Qatanov Library of Suleymaniye in Istanbul.
But a closer examination reveals that one should be cautious about equating Lev Nussimbaum with other works published under the pseudonym "Kurban Said." Research shows that Essad Bey did have his fingers in the "Ali and Nino" narrative, particularly in descriptive folkloric and legendary passages which often contained erroneous material but that the original manuscript of "Ali and Nino" did not originate with him but with the Azerbaijani writer Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
(1887–1942). At issue is whether Lev Nussimbaum was within his rights to use the pseudonym, and whether the name actually originated with him.
Even Reiss warns his readers that Nussimbaum’s own statements about his own identity were the least credible. “Years of collecting every shred of evidence I could of his existence revealed that…Lev’s simplest statements about himself—name, race, nationality—are the ones that can least be trusted.”
The problem with the “Der Mann” narrative is that though it started out as a semi-autobiographical account, it quickly lapsed into a tale of vengeance within a fictional framework about a “Dr. X.” Even Reiss admits that “Der Mann” is a “sprawling, improbable tale.” This, in turn, casts doubt on Lev Nussimbaum's claims to the rightful use of the pseudonym, "Kurban Said."
Dr. Wilfried Fuhrmann in Germany has transcribed and published all six of the hand-written German “Der Mann” Notebooks. He concludes that Notebooks 3 and 6 are the most damaging to Essad Bey’s reputation. “To varying degrees, they are a mixture of malice and slander, as well as pathological hubris and arrogance.”
For example, Essad Bey suggests that any woman who commits adultery should be tied up in a sack with a wild cat and thrown into the Bosphorus, or buried up to her head in the desert sands to be devoured at night by wild dogs. At the time, Nussimbaum was going through a scandalous divorce with his own wife Erika Loewendahl. However, the content and spirit of “Ali and Nino” which was published at the same time as Der Mann was advertised as being published (1937) is entirely the opposite, and Ali Khan truly was in love with Nino and did everything within his capability to foster her development and well-being. In truth, the two narratives are so unlike each other that it is impossible to imagine them being written by the same person.
Essad Bey signed his Final Will as "Essad Bey also known as Leo Nussimbaum and Lev Nussenbaum." No mention whatsoever is made of "Kurban Said." Essad Bey signed this Will (July 27, 1941) about a year before he died (August 27, 1942) and four years after Ali and Nino (1937) had been published.
Kurban Said is the pseudonym for the author of Ali and Nino, a novel originally published in 1937 in the German language by the Austrian publisher, E.P. Tal. The novel currently has been published in more than 30 languages.
Meaning of the pseudonym "Kurban Said"
In Azerbaijan where the novel has its setting, “Kurban” is pronounced “Gurban.” The root of the word originates in Semitic languagesSemitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
—Arabic and Hebrew. The term connotes “sacrifice” —a traditional religious concept common to Middle Eastern cultures. “Said” means “joyful” or “fortunate.”
However, in Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani, adjectives precede the nouns they modify, so the names would need to be reversed as “Said Kurban” to accurately convey the meaning “joyful sacrifice,” or “fortunate sacrifice.” This idea contradicts the storyline, which is anything but happy. A sad underlying melancholic theme pervades the novel from beginning to end.
Some people including Orkhan Vazirov (1928–2010), the son of Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, , sometimes spelled Chemenzeminli, born Yusif Mirbaba oghlu Vazirov Russia.Chamanzaminli was an Azerbaijani writer and statesman remembered for his novels, short stories, essays, and diaries...
(core author of "Ali and Nino"), are convinced that the original pseudonym is more likely to have been “Kurban Seyid” or possibly "Seyid Kurban." “Seyid” refers to someone who is recognized as a descendent from the Prophet Mohammed—in other words, a person of sacred lineage. Thus, "Seyid Kurban" would more accurately convey the meaning of someone of sacred descent who had been sacrificed, which is exactly the theme of the novel "Ali and Nino." Ali Khan the protagonist, sacrifices himself for the dream for himself and his country to be free. He dies while resisting the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
takeover of his country (1920). In the Azerbaijani language, both "Gurban" and "Seyid" can be used as either first or last names.
Chamanzaminli's links to the pseudonym "Kurban Said"
Interestingly, Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli was a "seyid" himself, allegedly having been descended from Mohammed on both sides of his family. As for the name "Gurban," Chamanzaminli had written a short story entitled "Gurban." In addition, he had referred to himself as "gurban" in correspondence to Azerbaijan Soviet authorities in 1925 when he was seeking permission to return home from Europe as he had been on a diplomatic assignment abroad representing the Azerbaijan Democratic RepublicAzerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
(ADR) government which was in opposition to the Bolsheviks. Chamanzaminli realized that historical circumstances made him a likely victim of politics, as most of ADR government officials had been killed when the Bolsheviks came to power.
During his literary career, Yusif Vazirov used at least 15 different pseudonyms beginning in 1904 when he was still a high school student. His choice of pseudonyms included names such as "Badbakht" (Unlucky One), "Hagg Tarafdari" (Protector of Justice), "Musavi" (Equality), "Sarsam" (Crazy One), "Stradayushiy" (One who suffers), and "Zritel" (Observer).
If the name originally had been "Seyid Kurban," it may be that Essad Bey (Lev Nussimbaum) who embellished the storyline and added folkloric elements (which often did not reflect reality) reversed the sequence as he was known to have often changed word sequences in efforts to disguise and hide his plagiarism.
Vacca's claims to the pseudonym "Kurban Said"
Bello Vacca, an Italian born in TripoliTripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
who often went by the alias Ahmed Giamil Vacca-Mazzara, also laid claim to the pseudonym Kurban Said. During the early 1970s, he appeared on the doorstep of Baron Omar Rolf Ehrenfels
Baron omar Rolf von Ehrenfels
- Life outline :Omar, or as he later chose, Umar Rolf Ehrenfels was born 28 April 1901 in Prague, Austria. His father was Baron Christian von Ehrenfels professor of philosophy at the German part of Prague University. He is known as the founder of the Gestalt theory. His mother was Emma von...
, husband of Elfriede Ehrenfels, who had registered "Ali and Nino" with German authorities. Vacca introduced himself: “Kurban Said, C’est moi!” (“Kurban Said, It’s me!”). The Ehrenfels were astonished.
Vacca also wrote British publisher Hutchinson claiming that he, as Kurban Said, had collaborated on several books with Essad Bey and they had had plans to publish them together - "Kurban Said" and "Essad Bey". Vacca named two titles: “Jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
” (Sacred Way) and “Kaloglan: From Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
to Tangiers.”
Note the relationship between Vacca and Essad Bey. Vacca was Essad Bey’s drug dealer and he was expelled from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1938 on charges of drug dealing and arms smuggling. Vacca also is the person who arranged and financed the Muslim-style gravestone capped with a stone-carved turban for Essad Bey, who is buried in the sea coast town of Positano, Italy.
In 1944, it was Vacca who arranged for the translation of "Ali and Nino" into Italian for the first time. However, although he had already identified the title as "Ali and Nino" in the obituary tribute that he had written for Essad Bey in 1942; in the 1944 edition of the novel, Vacca changed the title to "Ali Khan" and identified the author as "M. Essad Bey," instead of "Kurban Said." In the obituary as well as in the introduction of the novel, Vacca tried to make the case that he was related to Essad Bey, four generations back - the implication being that Vacca himself was "sole survivor" and, thus, in line to inherit Essad Bey's wealth.
The motivation became evident in correspondence from Vacca to Omar Rolf Ehrenfels asking his advice in regard to approaching Hutchinson Publishers (London) who he said had not paid Essad Bey for the biography of Reza Shah. Vacca sought to claim the money and told Ehrenfels that he had his papers all in order as proof of the kinship relationship.
Vacca’s explanation of the meaning of name "Kurban Said"
Vacca claimed that the creation of the name “Kurban Said” was totally accidental—the result of a misunderstanding—which later became a private joke between him and Essad Bey. According to Vacca, the incident took place in Turkey during the festival of Gurban Bayrami, the religious Muslim Festival of Sacrifice (Eid), which is commemorated annually to acknowledge God’s mercy in providing Abraham with a ram as a substitute sacrifice for his son Ismayil.Vacca described the scenario as follows: 1936. A lecture hall in the National Library of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
(Old City). He and Essad Bey had set aside four days to work together on "Ali and Nino." Essad Bey was conversing with someone when Vacca arrived. “I addressed them both with the greeting, “Kurban Said,” which Vacca explained, means “Happy Kurban Holiday.”
Vacca continued: It turned out that it was a foreigner—a tourist—who had been talking with Essad Bey. He misunderstood the custom and thought I was introducing myself as “Kurban Said.” And so the foreigner had smiled and replied: “Nice to meet you, Mr. Kurban Said.” “Ever since then, Essad Bey jokingly called me ‘Kurban Said,’ and when he was looking for a pseudonym for the novel, he asked me if he could use it and I agreed.”
Vacca's concocted tale about the name "Kurban Said"
But Vacca’s tale obviously was contrived:(1) There is no such greeting as “Kurban Said” or "Gurban Said" – in any of the countries which celebrate this holiday - not in Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey or other Turkic-speaking countries in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, or Arabic-speaking countries.
(2) Both Vacca and Essad Bey claimed they had converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
but it is obvious that their knowledge of Islam was extremely superficial, which calls into question the motivation for their "conversions" which many opponents judged to be merely opportunistic.
(3) Bayram is the biggest holiday of the year in Turkey, and all libraries would have been closed. These days, for example, the Bayram holiday is celebrated for more than a week.
(4) The pseudonym – Kurban Said – carries with it too much subtlety and sensitivity in relationship to the novel “Ali and Nino
Ali and Nino: A Love Story
.Ali and Nino: A Love Story is a charming love story published under the pseudonym Kurban Said. The novel now has been or reprints. The book was first published in Vienna in the German language in 1937, by E.P. Tal Verlag...
” to have originated from a casual mistake or joke, especially if understood in the context of Ali Khan’s personal quest for greater individual freedom in the pursuit of Azerbaijan’s independence.
(5) Other than Vacca’s account, there is no proof that Essad Bey had even gone to Istanbul to work on the novel. Nor is there any other witness claiming that Vacca had been involved at all with editing “Ali and Nino.” However, it may very well be that the original manuscript was kept in the National Library in Istanbul. Vacca wrote: "The original plan of the novel was in the State Library of Turkey in 1936 and I can say that the same plan is still in Turkey."
Furthermore, Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli wrote that he had left written materials related to Azerbaijan there in the Qatanov Library of Suleymaniye in Istanbul.
Lev Nussimbaum and the pseudonym “Kurban Said”
Lev Nussimbaum, who wrote in German under the penname of Essad Bey, is also linked to the pseudonym “Kurban Said.” When Lev Nussimbaum, still in his early 30s at the time, began confronting the possibility of his own death from Buerger’s Disease, he set out to write his own autobiography, entitling it, “The Man who Knew Nothing about Love” (Der Mann der von der Liebe nichts vertand). He signed it, “Kurban Said.” Though never published, "Der Mann" was advertised in 1937 as though it actually had been published and was available for purchase. This was the same year that "Ali and Nino" appeared.But a closer examination reveals that one should be cautious about equating Lev Nussimbaum with other works published under the pseudonym "Kurban Said." Research shows that Essad Bey did have his fingers in the "Ali and Nino" narrative, particularly in descriptive folkloric and legendary passages which often contained erroneous material but that the original manuscript of "Ali and Nino" did not originate with him but with the Azerbaijani writer Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, , sometimes spelled Chemenzeminli, born Yusif Mirbaba oghlu Vazirov Russia.Chamanzaminli was an Azerbaijani writer and statesman remembered for his novels, short stories, essays, and diaries...
(1887–1942). At issue is whether Lev Nussimbaum was within his rights to use the pseudonym, and whether the name actually originated with him.
Even Reiss warns his readers that Nussimbaum’s own statements about his own identity were the least credible. “Years of collecting every shred of evidence I could of his existence revealed that…Lev’s simplest statements about himself—name, race, nationality—are the ones that can least be trusted.”
The problem with the “Der Mann” narrative is that though it started out as a semi-autobiographical account, it quickly lapsed into a tale of vengeance within a fictional framework about a “Dr. X.” Even Reiss admits that “Der Mann” is a “sprawling, improbable tale.” This, in turn, casts doubt on Lev Nussimbaum's claims to the rightful use of the pseudonym, "Kurban Said."
Dr. Wilfried Fuhrmann in Germany has transcribed and published all six of the hand-written German “Der Mann” Notebooks. He concludes that Notebooks 3 and 6 are the most damaging to Essad Bey’s reputation. “To varying degrees, they are a mixture of malice and slander, as well as pathological hubris and arrogance.”
For example, Essad Bey suggests that any woman who commits adultery should be tied up in a sack with a wild cat and thrown into the Bosphorus, or buried up to her head in the desert sands to be devoured at night by wild dogs. At the time, Nussimbaum was going through a scandalous divorce with his own wife Erika Loewendahl. However, the content and spirit of “Ali and Nino” which was published at the same time as Der Mann was advertised as being published (1937) is entirely the opposite, and Ali Khan truly was in love with Nino and did everything within his capability to foster her development and well-being. In truth, the two narratives are so unlike each other that it is impossible to imagine them being written by the same person.
Essad Bey signed his Final Will as "Essad Bey also known as Leo Nussimbaum and Lev Nussenbaum." No mention whatsoever is made of "Kurban Said." Essad Bey signed this Will (July 27, 1941) about a year before he died (August 27, 1942) and four years after Ali and Nino (1937) had been published.
External links
- Covers of Ali and Nino translated into more than 30 languages.
- Who Wrote Azerbaijan's Most Famous Novel - Ali and Nino, The Business of Literature." in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 15:2-4 (2011). 364 pages. Available in Azeri or English.
- What People are saying about Azerbaijan International's research about the Authorship of Ali and Nino.
- Paul Goble, "Not Just a Question of Authorship: A Literary Excavation into "Ali and Nino," at AZER.com, search Goble."